Newborn Session Preparation Guide
The first few days of a baby’s life are so magical and incredible! Being able to freeze those moments for you is such an honor for me♥ I thought it might be helpful to write down how parents play a important role to a successful, pleasant and enjoyable experience for the successful newborn shoot.
So…. lets get started!
- When to schedule? Sooner the better! 2- 10 days are ideal, but i understand not everyone can make that happen. so the first 21 days are needed. Somewhere around day 10 they discover stretching and make it much more difficult to pose and curl into those sweet newborn poses that you see on my website and social media pages.
- Where will the session be? They will take place in my studio in Harrodsburg, KY. I have everything you need from boxes, bowl, hats, wraps, outfits, etc If you want to bring something please send photos at booking as i plan and set up the shoot prior to your arrival.
- Babies do very well in the studio for posing when they are in a very deep sleep. To encourage this I highly recommend, stimulating the baby at least two hours before your scheduled arrival, a warm bath always does the trick. This also means keeping them awake during the car ride here and refrain from feeding 2 hours before arrival as well. You need to arrive at the studio the minimum of 15 minutes prior to your session to feed baby and get a fresh clean diaper on. Once baby is burped i will prep baby for photos by putting on the outfit and getting baby wrapped up and cozy!
- Keeping in mind these two instructions will most certainly give you a well rested baby. In return we’ll be able to maximize the time you have in the studio with plenty of scenes and photos so for that reason please do not underestimate and risk how well your baby sleeps after a feeding. We need your bundle of joy to be very exhausted, tired and a bit hungry. I know it will be hard, atop of your own sleep deprivation but I promise you, it will be well worth the effort!! ♥
- I highly recommend if you’re solely breastfeeding to pump and bottle feed your milk for your babies session so if baby gets hungry we can keep them posed and ready to go to make the flow of the session easier. Picking them up will startle them and we want to keep them calm and resting. This is not required. if your are strictly breast that is ok! we will take a break for feeding.
- Please do whatever you can to keep the noise to a minimum during our session. Maintaining a calm environment is also a big key to a successful newborn shoot. If you have other children please keep them in the waiting room area and away from the backdrops and props. these things are not toys. Please do NOT step on the backdrops taped to the floor as they are a thick paper and are fragile. If you want to watch in the room with me that's fine but please stay back from the large light and out of the way to keep the session flowing. but please watch quietly so we don't disturb baby.
- Since babies like to be nice and warm, the studio is usually pretty toasty during newborn shoots. I recommend bringing a extra shirt for photos with the baby or we will start with the family portion.
- I know this can be a very exciting and stressful time for you, especially when adding sleep deprivation in the mix! feel free to take a nap, watch a movie, bring food and have a uninterrupted meal, read a book..etc
- What do I need to bring? Just baby essentials. ( Milk, Pacey, bottle, diapers..etc)
